Serena Williams has started into her North American hard court season with a surprising defeat. The 23-time Grand Slam winner lost to Johanna Konta from Britain at the WTA tournament in San Jose, California 1:6, 0:6 and gave away the last twelve games in a row. At least numerically it was one of the most solid slippers of her career.
Serena Williams’ last stroke was symptomatic of a completely failed match for the US player two and a half weeks after losing to Angelique Kerber in the Wimbledon final. Without necessity, the 36-year-old thundered from a standing start a forehand into the net, which she originally wanted to place on Longline. It was their 25th unforced mistake – which is remarkable with a playing time of just 51 minutes and 30 seconds. In the negative sense.
Tuesday became a used day for superstar Williams, who actually wanted to continue collecting match practice at the Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic for her big mission US Open (starting August 27). In the glaring limelight of the Big Apple, the former number one is aiming for her seventh New York title – it would be her first Grand Slam coup as a mother.
Her bankruptcy against the world rankings-48th Konta did not fit into the concept. Nevertheless, Serena Williams didn’t want to attach too much importance to the unpleasant surprise. “I know I can play a dozen times better,” she said, “I have so many things in my head, I don’t have the time to be shocked by a defeat that would never have happened if I had been in top form.”
After the 1-0 Williams gave the following twelve games in series. The service, otherwise THE weapon of the superstar (7 double faults), did not fire. Only 40 percent of the first serves came, in only 27 percent of the cases she made the point when she had to come over the second service. She’s been broken six times by Konta.
“I wasn’t good enough in the opening movement, and she pulled even more confidence out of it. After that she left,” Williams aptly analysed. Only nine direct winning strokes she got – contact came to 17 (with only 9 Unforced Errors).
Konta, Wimbledon semi-finalist from 2017, showed herself to be awesome despite her canters victory. “It’s an absolute privilege to stand on the court with Serena,” said the 27-year-old, saying, “Of course, she hasn’t nearly reached her best level. “I was just trying to pull my game off and hide what an incredible champion Serena is.”
Before the US Open, the younger of the Williams sisters, who has worked her way back to 26th place in the WTA ranking after reaching the Wimbledon final, will compete in the tournaments in Montreal (from 6 August) and Cincinnati (from 12 August). There she could also meet Angelique Kerber again. After her triumph at the All England Lawn Tennis Club on Church Road and a short break next week in Canada, the Kieler will start.